charles wartelle

Great biography of a great man.

Revisado: 09-05-24

Good narrator. As a kid in the 60s I revered Bart Starr. Now I know about the difficulties he experienced as a young man, how he overcame them, how he faced every challenge in life, including the tragic loss of his son. His love of his God, family and football carried him through it all.

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Rip and write biography

Revisado: 09-16-19

It's obvious that the author simply pulled up old newspaper and magazine articles and strung this book together. Fact checking is poor. There is little indication that he sought out interviews of friends, family members, associates or former players to provide greater depth to the narrative, The author's insertion of his own political opinions is just plain irritating. He hates Nixon, Reagan and Trump. Good for the author, but it has little to do with the life and legacy of the publicly apolitical, privately conservative Shula, other than the passing effort that Trump made to lure Shula to coach his USFL team, which Shula used to his advantage in contract negotiations with Joe Robbie. Note to author - many of your target readers are Trump supporters, so you might want to make some revisions to your second edition for your publishers sake.
Skip this and read the terrific "Collision of Wills" by Jack Gilden, about the battle of egos between Coach Shula and Johnny Unitas.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Undercuts narrative by adopting Feminist rhetoric

Revisado: 07-09-19

I think what Cosby did was henious, leaving a long trail of victims in his wake. He is properly imprisoned for his crimes. However, when Ms. Egan adopts the Male Patriarchy, Believe All Women trope of 4th wave feminism as a response to the attacks upon the credibility of his accusers she undercuts what, standing on the facts alone, is a powerful story of a beloved media icon's deciet, manipulation and use of wealth and fame as a weapon against his numerous victims.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

Comprehensive, but how did they the Music?

Revisado: 06-03-19

I hate biographies that focus on the artists foibles, and comment only passingly on the creative process. To me, this fits in with biographies written by Kitty Kelly and Albert Goldman, who focus completely on scandal. The only difference here is that Mr. Browne does not despise his subjects. He seems to identify with their left wing politics, which I actually find to be their least appealing aspect. I do not look to rock legends for guidance on political issues, I do appreciate that CSNY reached their lofty position in the pantheon of Rock n Roll because of their consistent ability to connect with their audience on both an intellectual and viseral level, with music that transends cultural barriers. They have never let their internal demons or their personal battles stifle their creativity. Creating great, timeless music that thrives with subsequent generations is not as easy as Mr. Browne portrays, nor is a hobby of otherwise self centered and self indulgent jerks. It is a rare gift, and to have it come together in these four individuals expressed in the purest of harmonies is more than a small miracle.

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esto le resultó útil a 16 personas

Worst year in my lifetime - LBJ tragedy of his own making - but not according to this Author.

Revisado: 05-17-19

At one time in his career LBJ was a ruthless but highly practical and effective retail politician. By 1968 he had become a frenetic, self destructive utopian. Like all utopian thinkers, he believed that the nobility of his purposes was an end in itself. The scope and breadth of his failure bought us as close to calamity as any time since the Civil War.

The whole recounting of the alleged “treason” of the Nixon campaign and Madame Chennault is ludicrous. Kennedy and Johnson got us in to Vietnam with no concept of a goal or an end game, and by 1968 it was killing nearly 1000 young me a week, but according to this author it was Nixon who prevented peace when LBJ halted the bombing 5 days before the election.

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